1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to health care equipment and related diagnostic apparatus, and more specifically to an improved medical monitoring device for detecting pulse and respiration in an individual, and alerting a user to any irregularities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the number one killer of infants under the age of one year in the United States. Each year SIDS claims the lives of more than seven thousand infants in this country alone. To this date, there has been no cure discovered for this dreaded disease. SIDS can strike perfectly healthy infants which have exhibited no health abnormalities, thus making the diagnosis of SIDS very difficult. Currently, the only form of prevention is the use of expensive monitoring devices which sell for approximately three thousand dollars. The cost of these devices proves unaffordable for most families.
The rationale for development of an improved medical monitoring device stems from two criteria posed by the SIDS problem. The first is that if all infants were monitored between the ages of zero to twelve months, the number of deaths from SIDS might drop significantly. In order for this to be accomplished the second criteria must be met, that is, the device must be affordable to as many families as possible. Along with these two criteria, the guidelines for a suitable medical monitoring device include the following:
(a) the device must reliably monitor both the respiratory rate and the pulse rate of the infant;
(b) the device must be reliable and produce a minimum of false alarms while in use;
(c) the device must be small, have no wires attached to the infant, and may not disturb the infant while in use; and
(d) the device must use radio signals to trigger an alarm device remotely located in another part of the house.